Yesterday I posted some of the sequences I’ve been pulling together for my “Agility Training in a Small Universe” project. The sequences I presented were just there in black & white. I eschewed the opportunity to speak about the sequences at all. Today I’m going back to my evil ways and will use a small smattering of courses to make some points about designing for training in a small space. However, I will avoid making handler training points and content myself with gleefully pointing out the challenges faced by the handler.

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An area of this dimension is actually capable of achieving a wide range of training objectives. We should not also that a nice flow can be created in the area that spurns the notion that it is too cramped for a dog to move.

In this sequence the handler is faced with the “riddle of sides”. Surely the performance of the teeter traps the handler alongside the dog so that the turn following jump #7 will somehow be accomplished with a Back Cross. Note too that the turn from jump #8 favors an approach to the A-frame. So the handler will have to deal with drawing the dog closer for the performance of the pipe tunnel.

One of the pitfalls of designing in a small space is that we can be trapped into repetitious and possible tiresome sequences which are just a rehashing of the previous exercise. So the designer should look for other interesting sequences that test skills of a different flavor. Note in this sequence that we give the dog the approach to the A-frame; indeed, we even allow the handler to set up for the change of sides in the serpentine opening. Though I’ve always been of a mind that if you give a person too long to think of a thing and too much leisure to solve it, they will often imagine something ungainly and risky.

This sequence has a couple of interesting moments. In the 180º turn following jump #6 the handler has a choice of directions to turn the dog. Turning to the right actually makes considerable more sense because the dog’s path will favor the pipe tunnel (next correct obstacle). Indeed the handler might want to shape the dog’s approach to jump #8 by drawing subtly back to the left after the performance of the pipe tunnel.

In is important to appreciate that when working in a small space it is not necessary to have all of the equipment up every week. A great raft of fundamental handling skills can be approached in our training simply with hurdles and tunnels or, frankly, hurdles alone.

If your design begins to flummox you a bit in terms of the challenges having a stereo or repetitious quality, then it’s useful to rotate a key piece of equipment so that the impact on sequencing provides a whole new slate of challenges.

This is a relatively simple sequence. The handler is challenged early on with getting the dog into the course designer’s choice of tunnel entries. However it looks so straight-forward that many handler’s will take it too much for granted and won’t apply the proper discipline to make the choice of sides more evident to the dog. Beyond that the most interesting moment in the sequence will be the long and rather interesting transition from jump #8 to jump #9.

In this sequence we’ve rotated the weave poles in such a way that the nature of the overall set of equipment is transformed. This gives the course designer the opportunity to test the dog’s understanding of the weave pole entry in a variety of ways. Furthermore the handler’s skill in shaping the dog’s approach to the weave poles can get a pretty good workout. In the turn from jump #3 to the weave poles at #4, for example, note that the handler actually has a choice of directions to turn the dog to shape the approach. Which direction would be better?

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Even in the smallest space, it is important to rotate through equipment that the dog will see in competition so that there are no surprises. Sometimes a piece of equipment will be ignored in training simply because it is inconvenient to move or frankly requires a lot of maintenance even while in use. This is an important service to students and it is important to the dog’s training.

This is a relatively straightforward sequence. The handler is faced with the opposite side pipe tunnel entry at #5 and will have to shape the dog’s approach to the long-jump at #6.

This sequence is a wee bit more challenging than the first. In addition to shaping the dog’s approach to the long-jump at #2 the handler will have to bring the dog off a tough 180º turn after the spread hurdle at #3 and shape the approach again at #5. Note that the handler has a choice of directions to turn the dog after the spread hurdle at #3. Which direction has more risk? Which creates the better consequential path for the dog given downstream challenges? 

Questions comments & impassioned speeches to Bud Houston: dogwoodbud1@earthlink.net. And Checkout my new publication of the Just For Fun Agility Notebook, the very last one I’m ever going to publish at www.dogagility.org/store.